Greek Premier Defends Bailout Deal

By Demetris Nellas

ATHENS, Greece -- Warning of a "catastrophe" that would leave Greeks subsisting on food stamps and the country wallowing in bankruptcy, Greek leaders urged lawmakers Saturday to pass more painful spending cuts on the eve of a crucial vote to qualify for a massive bailout.

In a televised address Saturday, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos defended the thousands of job cuts, drop in the minimum wage and other austerity measures that would earn the country a 130 billion euro ($171.6 billion) bailout deal and stave off bankruptcy.

"The deal will ensure our country's future inside the euro. ... A bankruptcy would lead to uncontrollable economic chaos and social explosion," Papademos said. He added that a bankruptcy would lead to Greeks losing their savings; the state being unable to pay salaries and pensions; and shortages in import items such as medicines, fuel and machinery.

He and the leaders of parties backing Greece's coalition government -- socialist George Papandreou and conservative Antonis Samaras -- as well as Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, a socialist -- used stark images of a country under bankruptcy to convince the public and, more importantly, persuade Parliament members debating the measures to vote for the deal.

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"If we do not dare today, we will live a catastrophe," Papandreou said during a parliamentary debate session.

"What do you want, a country where food will be handed out with food stamps and where we will have no fuel?" Samaras angrily told a dissenting deputy.

"The battle is now. The war is now. If we falter, nothing will be left standing ...The real dilemma is between painful measures and crushingly painful ones," Venizelos told socialist lawmakers.

Several dissident lawmakers were unconvinced. At least 13 conservatives and seven socialists declared they would not vote and two more socialist deputies resigned, bringing the total to three. Their replacements will be seated Sunday.

Typical of the dissidents' arguments was the one put forward by veteran socialist Vasso Papandreou (no relation to the socialist leader), a former minister and member of the European Commission. "If we say we do not pay the bond that matures on March 20, all (Europeans) will rush to find a solution," she said.